Yes today was Apple’s special event day and we’ll try and cover some of the breaking news as best as possible. Of course if you absolutely need to know the very latest in announcements, make sure to check out Gizmodo or Engadget where they have on-site field reporters providing the very latest in gadget info. Let me summarize what we do know so far (and then stay tuned for detailed information later on).

Ok.. so here’s the summary of news announcements today without the glitz of pictures etc:

  • The iPhone is getting custom ringtone support finally via iTunes
  • Ringtones will run you 99 cents a pop and will last up to 30 seconds in length. There will be around 500,000 ringtones at launch time sometime next week
  • There’s a new iPod nano (no big surprise here). Yes.. fatty is out the door. The new nano will feature a 2 inch display with a QVGA resolution. Same quality video as the regular iPod video and will come with a new user interface
  • New nano will feature three new games including a game called Vortex.
  • Finally, new nano will have 24 hour audio playback and 5 hour video playback battery life. 4GB will sell for $149 and the 8GB will sell for $199.
  • The current iPod lineup will be turned into the “iPod classic” which will also feature the new user interface introduced with the nano. The new UI is basically a split screen UI with the menu and options on the left and a preview pane on the right. The new iPod classic will feature 80GB and 160GB storage capacities with up to 30 hours of battery life for audio playback and 6 hours for video playback for the 80GB  model and 40 hours for audio and 7 hours for video on the 160GB model.
  • iPod classic will feature a new all-metal shell with the 80GB selling for $249 and the 160GB selling for $349.
  • And yes.. the iPod touch is for real. It’s basically a somewhat stripped down iPhone minus the phone related features. It’s got the same screen, and it’s actually thinner than the iPhone. Basically folks – if you don’t want the phone features of the iPhone, then get the iPod touch because it comes with a browser and integrated Wi-Fi. One thing that is missing is a mail client but I wonder how long it will be before someone adds the Mail client to the iPod touch. You can also buy music straight from iTunes on the iPod touch.  The new player will be available in 8GB and 16GB varieties and will feature 22 hours of audio playback and 5 hours of video playback. The 8GB will sell for $299 and the 16GB will sell for $399.
  • The iPhone will also get the iTunes Wi-Fi music store
  • Apple and Starbucks have a lame partnership announcement. Basically when you’re at a Starbucks, you’ll be able to purchase the song that’s currently being played at the store. You’ll also get free Wi-Fi access to the iTunes music store though it appears it’s limited to just music store access and not access to the Net in general
  • And finally.. the real pisser (at least for me), is that Apple has lowered the entry point for the iPhone. The 8GB iPhone is now going for $399. It looks like the 4GB model is no more.. but we’ll see. Argh. How evil are they??

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